Scholarly Productivity Among Doctor of Physical Therapy Faculty in the United States

Abstract

Introduction. Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) faculty members are expected to participate in scholarly endeavors that contribute to the knowledge of our profession. There is currently limited evidence describing the level of productivity among DPT faculty throughout the country or how it is influenced by various factors. The purpose of this project is to describe the scholarly productivity of DPT faculty members within the United States and how it is influenced by the highest earned degree, academic rank, and institutional Carnegie classification. Methods. The authors extracted the faculty information from the web sites of all accredited DPT programs in the United States. A systematic search query was performed, using Google Scholar, on each identified faculty member. Bibliometric values related to scholarly productivity were collected including the number of papers and citations along with the h-index, g-index, and e-index for each author. Data were analyzed through nonparametric methods to identify how highest earned degree, academic rank, and institutional classification affected scholarly productivity. Results. A total of 2,961 faculty members were identified, although only 2,468 (83.4%) were used for the analysis. Median bibliometric values included publications = 7, citations = 42, h-index = 2, g-index = 5, and e-index = 5.4. Overall scholarly productivity varied with the highest earned degree and academic rank with moderate effect size, and institutional classification with low to moderate effect size. Discussion and Conclusion. This is the first national study of DPT educators describing the bibliometrics of the DPT professoriate. Individual and institutional factors appear to influence scholarly productivity of individual faculty members. The data yielded by this study can aide faculty members along with internal and external stakeholders in developing meaningful targets for scholarly productivity.